While we may not work for landlords, our vast experience working with them gives us an inside look at how they operate, as well as the action steps needed to challenge charges and recover money. Landlords are purposefully vague in their operating expense statements; they know it isn’t your area of expertise. This is where Hughes Marino steps in. We hold landlords accountable for mistakes as well as unscrupulous behavior, making them comply with lease provisions and industry standards––recuperating past overpayments and revealing unsubstantiated charges.

Put Hughes Marino’s lease audit team to work for you. We’ll provide a complimentary review of your lease and operating expenses, as well as a full investigation if there are any red flags. Thus far, we’ve recuperated millions of dollars for our clients, letting them focus on what matters. Join them.

Commercial Lease Insights

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently issued an update (ASC 842) that will require businesses to rethink how they structure real estate leases going forward. The code change, which will be implemented in 2019 (2020 for private companies), requires companies to put the capitalized value of their lease obligations on the balance sheet as a liability and asset (“Lease Liability” and “Right of Use Asset”). As it currently stands, almost all lease costs are limited to the income statement and might only appear on the balance sheet as a footnote. Because there is no grandfathering for existing leases and financial statements include a two-year look back, the decisions being made today will impact the financial statements of the future. This has many decision-makers taking a closer look at leasing transactions to see how this liability can be reduced.

Landlords would prefer to keep you in the dark - which is why our team at Hughes Marino collectively spends tens of thousands of hours advocating for the rights of our tenants during lease negotiations. But what about after everything is said and done...

Every year at this time, usually between March and June, landlords throughout the land present their tenants with the prior year's Operating Expense Reconciliation. And while they take months to prepare these statements, the last thing they want is for the business owners and executives who receive them to spend time reviewing this all-important document. So what exactly is this reconciliation and why is it important to your business' bottom line?

As today's business leaders strive to stay ahead of the competition and grow their bottom line, the last thing they have is spare time to spend worrying about real estate lease obligations. This includes the burden that may be put on a finance department...